What is a spousal Roth IRA and does the same income limit apply to it?

A spousal Roth IRA is simply a Roth IRA funded for a non-working or low-earning spouse using the couple's joint income. It's not a special account type; it's the ordinary spousal contribution rule applied to a Roth. The same Roth income limits apply, but they're based on the couple's combined modified adjusted gross income and the married-filing-jointly phase-out range, which is relatively generous. If your joint income exceeds the Roth ceiling, the working spouse can instead do a backdoor Roth for the non-working spouse. This lets one-income households keep building tax-free retirement savings in both names. Verify the current joint phase-out thresholds at irs.gov, since they rise most years.